Chris Hardwick’s ‘Talking Dead’ Will No Longer Be Live, Instead Will Be Pre-Recorded

Originally the series immediately following The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead, known as Talking Dead, was hosted by Chris Hardwick and allowed viewers to call in via a toll-free phone number and give their thoughts, comments, and questions about the prior episode.

It often featured a celebrity panel and fan theories as well.

In the wake of allegations from Chris Hardwick’s former-girlfriend, Chloe Dykstra, claiming that Hardwick sexually abused her, AMC suspended the series, pending further investigation into such allegations. AMC has reportedly looked into the events from their end and found no cause to keep host Chris Hardwick from the show.

As such, Talking Dead will return to AMC with Hardwick at the ready, remaining as the show’s host. However, according to a report from Comic Book, the show will no longer air live. Instead, each episode will be pre-recorded.

AMC reportedly worked with Ivy Kagan Bierman of the firm Loeb & Lieb to investigate the matter and found it would be in the network’s best interest to reinstate Hardwick. There has been a public outcry following AMC’s announcement. AMC addressed such concerns in a statement.

We take these matters very seriously and given the information available to us after a very careful review, including interviews with numerous individuals, we believe returning Chris to work is the appropriate step.”

Hardwick’s reinstatement comes around the same time as another high-profile firing of Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn by the Walt Disney Company. Disney fired James Gunn following a resurfacing of tweets that were nearly a decade old.

The tweets were said, by the director, to be jokes. The tweets contained references to pedophilia, rape, and other taboo subject-matters. An outcry of fans similarly have called for a reinstatement of James Gunn, but Disney has yet to acknowledge such an outcry.

In the wake of the Me Too movement, many celebrities have experienced career trouble and legal trouble amid surfacing and re-surfacing of sexual misconduct allegations in the past.

Bill Cosby was recently convicted of sexual crimes in a court of law, while Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is currently awaiting trial for a number of sexual harassment charges, as well as charges of rape.